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Thursday, January 25, 2007

South Beach Phase One Recipes: Chicken and Tomatillo Soup

I'm home from school, waiting for the plumber to come so that I can have running water, but I have ice, plenty of Diet Coke, and some of this soup in the freezer, so life is still good. Hopefully I'll be able to take a shower again not too long after you read this, fingers crossed.

Possibly some of you who are cilantro haters are groaning seeing another photo of a dish that has cilantro, but read on. It's actually the tart-flavored tomatillos (toe-mah-tee-ohs) that are the star of this soup. I just love the flavor of this intesting fruit which is called husk tomato, jamberry, husk cherry, mexican tomato, or ground cherry in different parts of the world. It's easily recognizable from the husk that surrounds the fruit.

Tomatillos are the key ingredient in fresh and cooked Latin American green sauces, and the flavor is sharp, slightly lemony, and tart. Raw tomatillos are a delightful addition to fresh salsa (with or without tomatoes), and the tomatillo is a key ingredient in Chile Verde, a mexican stew made with pork. Although tomatillos slightly resemble the flavor of unripe tomatoes, they are much more flavorful and in my opinion green tomatoes aren't really a good substitute.

You can buy tomatillos in a can, but the flavor is fresher when you buy them raw. In Utah they're readily available all year. They're fairly easy to grow needing conditions similar to a tomato plant.

In this dish I wanted a strong tomatillo flavor but not bit chunks of tomatillos, so I chopped them quite small with a food processor.

(If you're a South Beach dieter, you may be surprised to see a recipe with beans for phase one, but actually beans are considered a "good carb" on South Beach and they're allowed for phase one, especially a dish like this where it's not all beans.)

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This sounds fantastic! I love tomatillos, but had never cooked with them until Elise at Simply Recipes posted a Tomatillo Salsa Verde that is super delicious and incredibly easy. If you have not tried it yet, you must do so. I will never buy jarred salsa verde again.

Love your blog and I truly thank you for all of the great South Beach info and recipes. I like being able to get the opinion of someone who has tried the recipes rather than the oftentimes "hit or miss" chance you take when you try a new one.

What's in my fridge? Cilantro? Check. Fresh tomatillos? Check. Chicken stock? Check. Hatch green chiles? Check! I am SO making this soup tonight as it has ALL of my favorite ingredients! (And I hope your water is running again soon!)

That's what tomatillo's are! I never really knew. I love 'ground cherries'.All of the soups look wonderful! We had snow yesterday so I'm making soup this weekend, too. Just don't know what kind yet...I've seen so many good recipes lately!

Hi, I have been seeing your comments on Mimi's site and thought I'd stop over for a visit. This soup recipe is going into my binder for sure! Lovely photos and yummy sounding recipe. This week's agenda!

As I mentoned in the round-up I've never seen this in Australia or cooked with them. They sound great and i must keep my eye out. The round-up is up although I had some problems with the logo and pics and had to go without them.Hope the pipes have defrosted - we used to live in a cottage in England where that happened. It was a real pain.

while it does say you can have beans in phase one, I don't think you can have pinto beans. In phase two of the book it says you can reintroduce pinto beans. So I think black beans would be a better choice. The book is a little unclear about which beans you can and can't have.

Anonymous, thanks for the feedback. I hadn't noticed that about the pinto beans, although I'm not sure why they would be different? I have noticed there are some inconsistencies in the book on a few things, but I read somewhere that Dr. Agatston changed his mind on a few things, so later editions of the book are different. For example, at first they did not allow tomatoes on phase one. I'll definitely check on this and see what I find out.

Anonymous, I'm not sure what to think. In the little book where foods are rated as *good*, *limited*, or *avoid* pinto beans are rated as good and show pretty much the same carb count as other beans and legumes. In the listings by phase, it under vegetables and legumes, it says beans are allowed for phase one. But I do see where you're reading "reintroduce in phase two" and it lists pinto beans and black-eyed peas (which are also not any higher in carbs than other beans listed.) There are other beans much higher in carb count. This is a soup where there is more veggies and chicken than beans, so I think I'd still assume it was ok. If you were on phase one and weren't losing weight, I'd cut out all beans, not just pinto beans. And I would not recommend something like refried beans or hummus for phase one where it's pure beans.

Melissa, I do moderate the comments, so when people are really out there, I just don't publish it. The later books do have much more extensive lists of foods that are allowed, which has helped. Hope you like the soup.

My husband devoured 2 bowls (he's not on plan)!!!! I really liked it but it seemed to salty to me. I usually drain and rinse my beans. I may try that next time. I really enjoyed the tomatillos though. I've never cooked with them before. Will def make again! You are making it soooooooo easy for me to stick with South Beach! Bless you!!!! ;)

Thanks for joining the conversation! I love hearing from readers and even though I can't always reply to every comment, I will always answer specific questions on a recipe as soon as possible. Sometimes I'm answering by iPhone, so my replies may be short!

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